


Bright Phantasm

by badboy_fangirl



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 17:39:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badboy_fangirl/pseuds/badboy_fangirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elena discovers something <i>very</i> interesting at the Whitmore College Library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bright Phantasm

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since Silas revealed that Stefan is his shadow self, I've been day dreaming about THIS.

Whitmore College is one hour and twenty seven minutes from the Boarding House. That's by car. Sometimes, when she's missing Damon particularly badly, she's sure she could get there sooner than that in a full-on run. Vampires are pretty speedy, you know.

And she misses him, _like whoa_. She expects to, of course, but she's unprepared for how the fact that they were together _every day_ for the preceding three months is affecting her need for her daily Damon fix. FaceTime is a godsend, but it's not quite as pleasurable as say even five minutes in the backseat of the Camaro.

That's not to say she's not extremely excited about her classes, and having a new adventure, and actually feeling happy about her life for the first time in two years. Even Caroline has finally stopped her most vocal rants against Damon, and mostly just mutters things under her breath occasionally in a very good imitation of Yosemite Sam. Bonnie is already three days late for semester--she's on some witchy-vampire trip with her mother according to Jeremy, but she will get there as soon as she can.

Elena's in the library her fourth day on campus when she sees him. He's standing at the counter, and it looks like he's actually checking a book out to a patron. He's smiling courteously, and he has some strange wire-rimmed glasses on. Elena ducks behind one of the shelves of reference books because she starts giggling uncontrollably at the idea that Damon of all people has a librarian-fantasy. In which _he's_ the librarian. She's not surprised that he couldn't hack less than week apart from her, because if anything makes her feel better about her addiction to Damon Salvatore, it's his addiction to her. But it's still hilarious. 

In a sexy sort of way.

When she gets her laughter under control--no reason to ruin his fantasy after all, she loves the man--she slides out, and starts to do her best slinky, come-hither walk towards him, but he's no longer at the counter. She looks around, expecting him to come up behind and drag her down some dusty, musty corridor for a quickie. When she doesn't see him, she moves around the outer room of the library, searching for him. She eventually goes to all the small, sectioned off offices where students have reserved study time, but she never finds him.

She returns to get the books she had come for in the first place, and when she checks them out, a happy red-headed girl with a name tag that reads _Alison_ scans Elena's student I.D. She shoots Elena a big smile as she shoves the books across the tall mahogany counter. "Have a great day!" she chirps.

Elena hesitates a moment, then asks curiously, "Is there another checker, like you? A guy with dark hair, glasses, about this tall?" She lifts her hand and indicates where Damon's head would be.

Alison's smile gets brighter and wider, if possible. "Dreamy blue eyes, beautiful smile, Greek god-body boy?"

Elena nods, suppressing a small surge of jealousy. Just because this girl has noticed some of the wonderful outside qualities of her boyfriend doesn't mean he would respond in kind. In fact, Damon never looks at other women at all, now that they're together. It's sweet, but also proves that his _You're disgusting! / I know!_ schtick was mostly just an act.

"That's Nathaniel. His shift just ended about fifteen minutes ago. But he always works from three to six, if you want to come back tomorrow." Alison leans forward conspiratorially. "I love to watch the women hit on him, because he goes about 47 shades of red. It's _adorable_."

Elena laughs and thanks Alison. As she leaves the library, she wonders just how many people he had to compel to pull this little hi-jinx off, because he couldn't possibly guess when she'd go to the library. Knowing Damon, he had probably made up a history for 'Nathaniel' to put in everyone's head just so he could have some romantic rendezvous with her.

For most boyfriends, this would be way too much work, but not Damon Salvatore. This is something right up his alley, and Elena won't lie; it excites her. 

As soon as she gets back to her dorm, she calls him and he acts completely strange, which confirms just what she thinks.

She won't ruin it for him, though. She'll go back tomorrow, if that's the way he wants it.

The anticipation will make the orgasm that much more intense.

 

 

She heads to the library a little before six. Her last class had ended hours earlier, but Damon had called her and told her she might as well not bother to come home this weekend because he had some stuff to take care of. When she readily agreed, she could hear a smidgen of suspicion in his tone, but he didn't question her. He just acted like he was super busy, and that he had another call coming in from Sheriff Forbes that he had to take.

Elena had ended the call with an _I love you, baby_ and waited a bit before she strolled across campus to the library.

The wire-rimmed version of Damon is standing at the counter, chatting with the same red-headed girl from the day before. As Elena draws nearer, she sees just how far he's taken his charade, because he's wearing a soft blue polo shirt and some khaki pants that she imagines must have pained him just a little to put on. His hair is even parted on the left side.

But still, he looks good. And she likes the glasses, especially at close range. It's a wonder just how many ways he can turn her on, but all she knows is he never fails to do so. In the months that they've been having sex on a regular basis, her passion for him has only increased.

So much so, that apparently she also has a librarian fantasy that she didn't even know about.

He glances over at her as she leans her elbows on the counter and says cordially, "I'll be right with you, miss." 

His tone is _very_ professional. Elena smirks, and happens to catch Alison's eye. Alison obviously remembers her because she says, "Oh, go ahead, Nathaniel. That's the girl I was telling you about--she was looking for you yesterday."

At this, _Nathaniel's_ head jerks back towards her almost convulsively, and she knows he knows she's on to him. Not that she expected him to think she _didn't_ get it, almost immediately, but she's sure he thought he'd have the upper hand. 

When their eyes meet, however, there is no sense of familiarity. He doesn't give her the heated stare he's perfected over the last two years (and particularly the last three months) that lets her know exactly what he's thinking. (And usually, what he's thinking is _you naked, under me, over me, all around me, come baby come_.)

In fact in the long stretch of seconds that tick away from Alison's statement about who Elena is to him asking nervously, "H-how can I help you, m-miss?" Elena literally feels like he's someone else completely.

And that sort of unnerves her, causing her forget the suggestive thing she planned to say to make him 'blush' for their little audience.

She's seen Damon compel people with a precision and belief she often plays at herself, the thing Caroline told her so many months earlier was necessary for effective compulsion. But this went beyond that; he was so fully this character he had created he made Elena almost believe it, too, without being compelled.

He was obviously going all-in. He would deserve an Oscar nomination by the end of it.

She straightens her shoulders, and starts tracing heart shapes on the counter top with one finger. She lets their eye contact linger a bit longer, until he looks away, down at her hand on the wood table-top and then his gaze ping-pongs back to her face. "I saw you, yesterday, from across the room," she says, tossing her hair in the best impersonation she can do of the girl she once was before Wickery Bridge and Willow Creek tried to kill her the first time. "And I wondered if you might give me your number?" Wire-rimmed Damon swallows visibly, his eyes widening ever so slightly, like a deer caught in the headlights. "Or, maybe you're free tonight, and would like to go to dinner with me?"

Elena knows her man, and nothing gets to Damon more than the woman doing the traditional man thing. He loved it when she tossed him on the bed, or any time she was the aggressor, so an outright dinner date should have the same effect.

She stands there, just staring at his face as it does in fact fill with color, his cheeks blooming to a bright red that she has never seen before. It is remarkably endearing, and between that, his polo shirt and khakis, and those damn glasses, she's fairly certain she's not going being able to wait to get him outside the library. They will have to find some private place soon, and close-by.

Or, you know, just compel everyone to forget the live sex-tape they'll be seeing.

Wire-rimmed Damon clears his throat, and then says, his voice still very craggy, "Miss...?" and he tilts his head questioningly.

"Gilbert," she supplies smoothly. "Elena Gilbert."

"Miss...Gilbert," he says haltingly. "I--you, you're very beautiful, and I'm sure a very lovely person on the inside as well, and that's very flattering--I mean, to say, it's very kind of you, to invite me out, but...I just, I can't. I'm sorry," he says, placing a hand down on the counter. She can tell it's a total accident when his hand lands on hers, because he jerks it away so fast, she thinks he might have used his vampire speed. "I-I, I'm seeing someone, and well, it wouldn't be--I shouldn't..." he trails off, and Elena's somewhat relieved because she can't handle how much she believes what he's saying.

His sincerity is beyond anything she's ever seen, and if Damon is anything when it comes to her, it is completely sincere. This, whatever _this_ is, might be him taking it just a bit too far.

Her throat feels tight, and all the fun of the moment seems to be draining slowly away. In the split second where she decides to go with it, to pretend she believes he has a girlfriend he would never cheat on, some sort of strange malaise affects her.

( _God!_ If ever she doubted her love for Damon, this little exercise was proving to her, all over again, just how real it is for her.)

"Well, it was worth a shot, right?" she says, forcing cheer into her voice. She smiles broadly and then impulsively hops up so she's leaning across the counter. Reaching out, she grabs him by his polo shirt collar and drags him close to her. "If things don't work out with you and your girlfriend, I'm in the Student Directory," she purrs, and then she kisses him, nothing too graphic, just a soft, but firm press of her lips to his. She's slow to pull her mouth away, even if she's not introducing her tongue, and she feels him finally start to react, his lips moving against hers as she draws back. His flushed cheeks are still dramatic points of red on his face, but now the blue of his eyes have been reduced to a thin outer rim, his black pupils taking up most of the space. His glasses are slightly askew from her own nose, Elena guesses.

Still, he looks pretty surprised, _and_ aroused, so she takes it as a win. She'll wait outside for him, since she knows he gets off work in a couple minutes. 

(There will shortly be other getting off activities. She should have looked in the parking lot for the Camaro, now that she thinks about it.)

"Have a great weekend," she says happily, leaving him looking dumb-founded while Alison gives her a thumbs up as she laughs heartily.

Elena walks away, certain she can feel his gaze on her backside the whole way.

 

 

There is a strategically placed bench, just outside the automatic doors of the library, so she sits herself down and waits for him to come out. It takes him a bit longer than she anticipates, because she figures he'd be as hot to trot as she is and he wouldn't waste any time getting out to her, but when he walks out more than 15 minutes later, he doesn't even glance over at her.

"Damon!" she calls, bounding up from the bench. He hears her, but the expression on his face is not what she's expecting. 

He looks a bit terrified. 

In fact, he really doesn't look as much like Damon as she first thought; certainly the physical resemblance is strong, but just like the differences between her and Katherine were very obvious to Damon, there were very dramatic changes here. Damon, for all his subterfuge when it came to emotion was _not_ that good of an actor. (Once, during their summer of love, he'd gone into great detail about the subtle things that made Elena _Elena_ , and the longer he had spoken, the more she had understood just how much he loved her. She had ended up shedding some tears, and then made love to him as tenderly as she possible could, which might have caused him to cry a little, too, though he'd never admit it.)

Still she approaches him, because it _has_ to be him. Doesn't it?

"Damon?" she says again, this time with less certainty.

He straightens his glasses nervously and shakes his head. "Nathaniel," he corrects. "Although some people call me Nate." He takes a deep breath, and she can see him steeling himself. He closes his eyes briefly, as if summoning courage, and then he opens them to gaze at her with an earnestness that is breathtaking. "Miss Gilbert, you are beautiful, and believe me, I know I'm probably an idiot for turning you down, but...I really love my girlfriend. It just wouldn't be right." He gives her a shy half-smile. "I'm sure, with that approach, you could get a lot of guys attention--but most of them aren't going to be the kinds of guys you should be with. So, just be yourself, your natural beauty and loveliness will attract the--"

"Seriously?" she says, interrupting him. "I get that this is a hysterical game you're playing, but can't we just go out back and fuck each other's brains out already? Good grief, Damon, it's been _five_ days."

At this, _Nathaniel_ frowns disapprovingly and takes a step back from her. "I'm starting to think that perhaps you are mentally unstable," he says, and all of a sudden, Elena knows for sure.

He's _not_ Damon. She knew he wasn't Damon the first time she saw him, because Damon has no patience. He wouldn't have let this stretch out into a second day, no way in hell. If he'd come up here yesterday to have his way with her, well, the truth is, she probably wouldn't have made it to class today, and she would have 59 messages on her phone from Caroline screeching about how Damon is such a terrible influence.

Damon has a doppelganger.

_Damon has a doppelganger._

She starts laughing then, and turns away from Nathaniel. Waving him off, she says through her laughter, "You know, I probably _am_ mentally unstable. Go on, I'm sorry I bothered you."

He turns to walk away, his step rather quicker than it had been the moment before, but Elena calls out to him again. "Nathaniel?"

He looks back at her.

"Are you from here, did you grow up here?"

He nods hesitantly. "Yes, why?"

"Your family? They're probably like founders of the town or something, right?"

He cocks his head, and just for a split second, she sees a little bit of Damon in him. "Actually, my family helped found Mystic Falls; it's about an--"

"Hour and a half from here," she finishes with him. "Yes, I know where it is." She pulls out her phone. "Thanks. I'm really sorry I bothered you," she says. 

He gives her one last strange look and then finally walks away.

Elena dials Damon's number, but it goes straight to voicemail. "Hey, baby," she says, as she starts to run back to her dorm. "Call me as soon as you get this message! It turns out, I'm not the only one with a doppelganger!"

 

 

(The next day, Damon turns up on her doorstep, his eyes wild. He can't find Stefan, but Silas is walking around wearing his brother's face.

Elena can't help but be thankful that Damon's doppelganger is the _nice_ version of him.

She doesn't say that, however. She'll save that for when they can laugh about it. After they've rescued Stefan, from wherever he is.)


End file.
